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On March 27, 2017, for the first time in Canadian history, an appellate Court revoked a voluntary settlement made between an individual and a securities regulator. Agreeing with the grounds for appeal raised in Mr. Daniel Pharand’s notice of appeal and in view of the Court of Appeal’s decision to grant leave to appeal to Mr. Pharand, the Autorité des marchés des financiers (“AMF”) acquiesced to the entirety of the conclusions sought by Mr. Pharand in appeal, including the dismissal of the proceedings instituted by the AMF against Mr. Pharand.

In the matter of Daniel Pharand v. Autorité des marches financiers et al.[1], Mr. Daniel Pharand, a former director of Arura Pharma Inc. (“Arura”), had entered into a settlement agreement with the Autorité des marches des financiers (the “AMF”) in which he was asked to make a number of admissions of fact and law. In particular, Mr. Pharand was required to admit that he had sold shares of Arura while in possession of privileged information (or material non-public information) thus breaching section 187 of the Québec Securities Act, the prohibition against insider trading.

Mr. Pharand entered into the settlement to avoid engaging in an expensive seven day trial, the cost of which would have greatly exceeded the $8,700 fine being sought against him (and the $5,000 fine he ultimately agreed to pay in the settlement). The AMF also entered into a settlement with Mr. Jacques Gagnon, but Mr. Gagnon did not appeal the decision sanctioning the settlement agreement.Continue Reading Court of Appeal Exonerates Daniel Pharand by Revoking a Voluntary Settlement Agreement Made With the AMF